As we crossed the Border, there were hundreds of trucks lined up on the Border, good for us put no so good for them. The Border into Nepal was only open for Tourists, I hope they don't have to wait to long.

Trucks lining up at the border

First stop in India ia Gorakpore, the Road from the Border winds its way through the countryside and villages. We find our way into the City and stop to get directions to find a Hotel.
The moment we stop people come from everywhere and gather around us, asking questions about the Bike. How many dollars, how many CC, how much petrol she uses, where you from....and so on.

I walk away to check a Hotel, by the time I come back , Mark is surrounded by about 80- 100 people.
We stay in a overpriced Hotel just to get off the Road.

Early the next morning we head towards Lucknow. We hit the "Highway"and the challenge begins. The most demanding Road we ever encountered, the whole Road is one big Roadwork site. We complained about Nepal's Truck Drivers, they are good compared to the Indians.God must be very almighty and powerful they all have death wishes.

spot the truck

over heatet

And then there are railway crossings., the boom gate is down, instead of queuing up behind each other, they still overtaking, so by the time it stops we have 4 trucks,( 100 more behind us) 20 Bikes, 2 cars all next to each other at the gate and the same at the opposite gate.
We let you work out what happens when the Train has passed.

Railway X

200km and 7 hours later we finally arrive in Lucknow, sweating, dirty, hungry and thirsty ( Its hard work this traveling).With the help of a tuk tuk driver we find a Hotel and collapse on the Bed exhausted.Lucknow to Agra the next morning a nice 2 line Highway in each direction.But you can always tust the Indians to keep you entertained.Trucks driving towards you with high speed, Tractors pulling out in front of you, cows are having a rest in the middle of the Highway, kids jump on the Road followed by their mothers, just crazy..........

Concentrating on the traffic so hard we miss our turn to Agra. The Road is starting to get Evey bad and we realize we are going the wrong way. We stop in front of a old timber hut with a coke sign out front. The Owner invite us in to sit in the shade and gave us 2 Cokes out of a cool box, within minutes we have the whole neighbor hood starring at us.

Back on the right road to Agra we come into the city past the big red fort and seeing the Taj Mahal in distance. We came to a huge intersection and ask for directions and in a few minutes we pull up at the Tourist Rest House, secure parking and a garden, what joy.

The nezt day sightseeing on the Agenda, the red fort, the outside wall are over 2 km long, inside there are 3 palaces, amazing. One can daydream what it would have looked liked in the high days, with carpets on the marble floors, colorful silk everywhere, fountains...........

In the afternoon we hire 2 Rickshaw driver to show us the town.They were very entertaining in the end Mark drove the Rickshaw its harder then it looks.

Taj from the river side

Laundry by the river

The next day the Taj Mahal, just absolutely mind blowing, so big and sparkling white in the sun light. Thousand of people there mainly Indians, sitting on the cool marble in their Sundays best, all the woman in colorful Sary's.

On Sunday we off to Delhi, they tell us there is less traffic on Sunday ( then we wake up) but the Road was good and we were there in about 4 hours.
The Brother of our Indian Friend Allen in Sydney is picking us up before we get into town.
So much easier to follow someone into a big city of 14 Million People.

He drove us to a Hotel, then we had a very nice lunch at his place and met his Family. In the evening we went to the biggest Temple we have ever seen, just like in dream land all lit up, they had a huge arena with a massive fountain where a musical fountain show took place, thanks Kenwal and Dad.

Dad picked us up from the Hotel and showed us around Delhi, he lived here all his live. The old palace ruins, the Parliament House, the big city arch, the Old Delhi, were we had lunch and Gandhi's resting place. Thank you very much for a great day.